Sharing Distance
by FemaleSpock
Summary: They were brothers; it was just natural that they shared everything. Aarch/Artegor, Norata/Artegor. Mentions of: Aarch/Adium, Norata/Keira.


Sharing Distance

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Galactik football and I make no money from this fanfiction. **

"Don't be difficult," Aarch said, raising his hands up in a defensive stance. To Artegor it only signified his guilt, if Artegor was being difficult it was for good reason.

"Why can't you just dump her? She'd get over it," Artegor complained.

"I need to keep up appearances, it's not like I have any real feelings for her," he said, laughing falsely.

Everything about this was false, they both knew that (but Aarch didn't know that Artegor knew).

"I'll see you later," Aarch said, giving Artegor a quick kiss before leaving the room for his date with Adium.

Artegor hated the situation; he hated the fact he had to share Aarch with that girl. He hated seeing them together; he hated seeing Adium digging her possessive claws into him all the time, laughing so unaware of the fact her boyfriend was playing her for a fool. Aarch wanted to spare her feelings; he'd never tried to spare Artegor the indignity of it all. Although Aarch liked to pretend that he was the only one, Artegor knew better than that, he knew that Aarch told the same thing to her too.

Anyone would have advised him to walk away, to end it with Aarch because it would only end in ruin. But he couldn't stop, he couldn't stop loving Aarch and he hated it. He despised the feeling of being so powerless; being so vulnerable to Aarch's every whim, he'd always been so careful to distance himself from everyone, it made him ashamed to think how easily he'd fallen into a trap. He'd always had control (self –control rather than power over anyone else) but it was like his life wasn't even his any more.

Maybe that was why it had started.

Artegor waited for a few minutes, before leaving the room himself, heading just down the hallway, walking purposefully (he wasn't lost, he had to remind himself of this) to the room where he didn't bother to knock before entering.

"Artegor," Norata said, wide-eyed, welcoming. It always gratified Artegor to see how much Norata wanted him (although he knew that he probably looked like that around Aarch, a fact he hated).

Artegor gave him a cool smile in response, Norata never needed much encouragement. He slowly walked across the room to caress Norata's cheek dispassionately, watching with pleasure how he still blushed after all this time. Relishing the power as always, he pressed his lips to Norata's in a kiss that could easily be mistaken for being passionate.

Norata was entirely innocent to the fact that Artegor was just using him, maybe it was a mercy on his part, but really, it was for convenience. Holding back information gave Artegor the control he craved. Besides, he very much doubted that Norata would continue to see him if he knew about his relationship with his brother (Artegor didn't know for sure, he didn't have a brother himself so he couldn't fully comprehend brotherly bonds) and that would leave Artegor right back where he had started. Yet, Artegor knew that it was the truth that he wouldn't have looked twice at Norata had he not been Aarch's brother.

Sometimes if he concentrated hard enough, he could actually believe it was Aarch underneath him. And he needed to believe because even though even though when he was with Aarch, he never really had him, not fully- a part of him would always be held back for Adium or for whoever else Aarch might be seeing. It always felt like Aarch was throwing him scraps, it wasn't enough, he didn't feel any closer to him than the day they first met.

He'd never tell Aarch either, he was too protective of his baby brother and as much as Artegor liked to muse about hurting Aarch, the desire would always be constrained to his imagination because in reality he knew wouldn't be able to stand seeing the look on his face if he found out. It would be the end and the terrible thing about love was that no matter how much it burnt, Artegor didn't truly want to be freed.

He didn't feel guilty. Aarch had started it, after all. He should have felt guilty for Norata's sake but he couldn't. His vision was blinkered, he was just focused on winning the game against Aarch, that Aarch didn't even realise he was playing. Aarch was everywhere, he'd infected every level of his mind, Norata wasn't really a person to him, just extension of Aarch.

The brothers weren't too dissimilar. But the first thing everyone noticed were the differences but even the way Norata said goodbye to him was reminiscent of Aarch, just less self-assured, more earnest.

The two of them shared a sense of innocence; Aarch was cruelly innocent, oblivious to the harm he did, Norata was just innocent. They were similar but they weren't the same; every quality Aarch possessed, Norata did too just to a lesser degree- he was inferior in every sense to Artegor's mind (but then again, no-one really could compare to Aarch, such was his elevation).

"See you again, soon," Artegor said with an emotionless tone, as he left Norata's room to return to his own. He didn't glance back.

Aarch was already back by the time he walked into his own room.

"Where have you been?" Aarch asked.

"Nowhere. How was your date with Adium?"

"Boring."

A lie for a lie.

"I missed you," Aarch said with a smile that Artegor knew he shouldn't fall for, yet he did every time. The words were truer than the previous ones and Artegor forgot his dissatisfaction with the relationship for the time being and content himself with having Aarch for now.

Every time he was with Aarch it was hard to remember that Norata even existed.

The one thing Artegor hadn't realised was that Norata shared some similarities with him as well as with Aarch. Neither of them took well to being left.

But of course, Artegor wasn't there to see Norata's ruined innocence fall to be replaced with a spirit of bitter iron. It had been his leaving (with Aarch of course) that had frozen Norata's heart (not his brother's and not the wife that was more like a best friend than a soul mate).

Aarch wasn't the only one who could be accidentally cruel.

**That's it for this fic! I hope my fics aren't getting too repetitive, because sometimes I feel that maybe I write stuff that's too similar to stuff I've already written. Please review; I love reviews!**


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